Thursday, February 25, 2010

Unless one happens to live with an artist, it’s a rare opportunity to catch a glimpse at the creative process. Any artist showing off a finished work will inevitably encounter the following questions:

“How long did it take?”“What did you use for this part?”“What were you thinking when you made this?”

As they say, it’s not just the destination but also the journey.

“For me the process is almost more important than the finished piece,” Leslie Pearson, multimedia artist, says. “Because a single piece can easily take months, or even years, to complete. [It] becomes a meditative, ritual act or performance.”

Pearson, a graduate student at East Carolina University, studies textiles. With a home base in Wilmington, she is an avid experimenter, who loves to work with new materials, naturally incorporating a variety into her artwork.

“I am excited to see that boundaries are being crossed within all media,” she says. “Labels are almost a thing of the past. I find this to be especially true for artists working in fiber-based materials, because the the range of what is considered to be ‘fiber’ is so diverse.”

She keeps a busy studio in the downtown home she shares with her photographer husband. Once inside her creative space, she finds solace in the acts of hand-stitching and weaving.“The repetitious processes and handwork associated with fiber-based artwork is usually a very important aspect to the artist,” Pearson says.

So important, in fact, that she takes the time to document her woman-at-work moments. Using an automatic setting on her camera, she takes a picture of herself creating every 30 seconds, which she compiles and transforms into time-lapse videos.

“I find that the video showing the progress and the physicality of the artist-in-action is a key component to understanding the artwork: the time, the sacrifice, the dedication to completing something.”

But it’s not all painstaking discipline. Pearson enjoys every moment. “Let’s not forget the fun of using one’s own hands to make an idea into a tangible object,” she says.

Though she’s the only star so far of her homemade films, she is sure that plenty of Port-City fabric fanatics can relate to the process onscreen. When she isn’t making the commute to Greenville for school, Pearson has been busy curating an exhibit, featuring her fellow textile students from ECU. In fact, the travels she endures for an education were her main inspiration for the show.

“There are a lot of fiber-based artists in the Wilmington area, but there isn’t a program available locally,” she points out. “Perhaps this exhibition will even stir an interest in creating a textile program at UNCW.” When asked why the school would want to install textiles in their curriculum, Pearson couldn’t stop herself.

“The word ‘textiles’ itself is even being redefined in people’s minds. Once traditionally thought of as term for working in industry—wall paper design, fashion, fabric design—it’s now a broad umbrella for anyone working in fiber-based art.”

The broadness will soon be displayed on the walls of ACME Art Studios. The show, called “Materials and Methods,” is a group exhibition, featuring a mix of fiber-based artworks created by several professors and graduate students from East Carolina University’s School of Art and Design. An opening reception will be held on Friday, February 26th, from 6-9pm.

Leslie Pearson’s time-lapsed videos can be viewed on her Web site at www.lesliekpearson.com.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

CREATE will be up through the month of March at Cape Fear Studios in downtown Fayetteville, North Carolina - I hope you will have a chance to see this spectacular show. Cape Fear Studios will host an opening reception this Thursday from 6:00-9:00.

CREATE, The Art of Fine CraftCape Fear Studios is pleased to announce an exhibition of fine craft by artists from across the United States. Curated by Erica Stankwytch BaileyPlease join us for the opening reception:Thursday, February 25, 20106:00-9:00Cape Fear Studios148 Maxwell StreetFayetteville, NC 28301

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

For the exhibit “Materials and Methods: A Multimedia Exploration in Textiles” at ACME Art Studios in Wilmington, local artist Leslie Pearson was so inspired by students in the textiles program at East Carolina University's School of Art and Design that she opened up the exhibit to them, as well as to the school's faculty.The resulting exhibit, which opens with a reception Friday in conjunction with Fourth Friday Gallery Night, features new work that interprets the use of textiles and techniques and utilizes traditional and experimental approaches to making art. Featuring textile- and fiber-based artwork, the exhibit ranges from contemporary quilts and sculpture to video, book arts and digital weaving.

Pearson is a master of fine arts candidate in the textile program at ECU, and although a full-time student, she has a studio space at ACME Art. A self-described multimedia artist who loves to experiment and try new materials, Pearson enjoys the process of making things with her hands, creating something that didn't exist before.

“(It's) almost more significant to me than the final product,” Pearson said by e-mail from Canada, where she was attending the Olympics. Pearson also documents her output using time-lapse video.

Originally attending ECU with a concentration in painting, Pearson soon found that working in textiles made for greater variability in ideas.

“(I) found it freeing to break away from the rectangular, two-dimensional surface of a canvas,” she said.

Fiber-based work extends beyond traditional design and materials can be as diverse as silk, yarn, paper or hog intestines. There will be three small sculptural gut pieces on display in “Materials and Methods.”

“While every medium does have its own set of challenges, I feel the field of fiber arts is broad and seemingly limitless,” Pearson said, adding that contemporary fiber artists continually push boundaries of the art form, and by doing so, have redefined what textiles are. “There's a strong tie to traditional methods like fabric collages, quilting, lace making, felting and beading. They (also) utilize new technology to incorporate video and audio components (and) create digital weaving and digitally printed fabrics.”

Robin Haller, an assistant professor in the textiles department at ECU, describes the digital weaving process for crafting some weavings on display in “Materials and Methods,” weavings created using JacqCAD Master software.

“JacqCAD is a weaving program that works in direct correspondence to a grid and uses pixels as coordinates,” Haller said. “This software also allows the artist to translate a finished design into a format read by the TC-1 jacquard loom. This modern-day version of the ancient draw loom and 19th century punch-card loom controls each warp thread independently, allowing the weaver great flexibility on designing. The blueprint of the weaving is predetermined by the computer design, but the finished piece is still woven by hand.”

At ECU, students digitally design weave structures using software called WeaveMaker, where they share access to a 16-harness, computer-assisted loom with which to execute designs. By using digital technology, students are able to work with multifaceted weave structures.

Pearson said students are encouraged to explore artistic expression in the field of textiles. It was during the fall semester that she was inspired by the fiber-based work by students under the guidance of Christine Zoller.

“They were able to take textile ideas and techniques and incorporate them into their own work,” Pearson said.

Monday, February 22, 2010

I'm always a little sad when I come back from a break and everything starts back...business as usual. However, coming back home to a beautiful day in Wilmington made things a bit easier. Popped over to the beach today after church. Just wanted to enjoy the peaceful view before heading back to school.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

I finally finished my first crocheted scarf. As you can see from the photo, I had a few hiccups along the way and accidentally started decreasing my stitch. Luckily, I just came back out and was able to continue on. My hubby loves his new scarf!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Surprise! It snowed in North Carolina : )

I really hope this doesn't put any kinks in our plans of heading to Vancouver to see the 2010 Winter Olympics. I'm really excited to catch up with our old friends Rachel and Dana who we haven't seen for a couple of years now.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

I covered my tubular weaving in gut. It reminds me of a cocoon - the empty pupal case left behind after emergence.Insects that pupate in a cocoon must escape from it, and they do this by either cutting their way out or secreting fluids that soften the cocoon.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Had a BLAST at Melissa Manley's gut workshop last weekend. ECU's Textile Dept. brought her in for a talk and all day demo. I have been doing all kinds of ambiguous sculptural pieces by stretching wet hog intestines over crudely shaped wire armatures and knitted copper wire. Could life be any better????